Railway-siding



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-8l1eet 1.

W. R. KIRK. RAILWAY SIDING.

No. 474,665. Patente ay 10, 1892.

Wnexsex I 4Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. R. KIRK. RAILWAY SIDING.

Patented May 10, 1892.

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W. R. KIRK.

' RAILWAY SIDING.

No. 474,665. Patented May 10, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

\VALLAOE R. KIRK, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

RAlLWAY-SlDlNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,665, dated May 10,1892.

Application filed July 11, 1391. Serial No. 399,144. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALLACE R. KIRK, of Kansas City, Jackson county,Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Sidings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof.

My invention relates to the construction of railwaysidings; and theobject of my invention is to produce a siding for railway-tracks whichare laid in alley-Ways and similar confined narrow orotherwise-restricted places, and by means of which one or more cars offreight or other railway trains can be readily side-tracked from themain line in such mannor as not to obstruct the alley-way nor the maintrack.

To the above purpose my invention consists in certain peculiar and novelfeatures of construction and arrangement, as hereinafter described andclaimed.

In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed todescribe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which--Figure l is a perspective viewof a railwaysiding constructed inaccordance with my invention, the main line being in condition for thepassage of trains and certain parts being partially broken away to moreclearly disclose the construction. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same,certain parts being partially broken away to more clearly disclose theconstruction. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same, the siding being out ofalignment with the main line, as when supporting a shunted car. Fig. 4is an irregular verticallongitudinal section on the line 44 of Fig. 1.Fig. 5is atransverse vertical section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6is an irregular transverse vertical section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 3.Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section on the line 7 7 of Fig. 2. Fig.8 is a detached perspective view of one of the movable ties for themovable main-line section.

Previous to my invention it has been im possible to provide sidings innarrow alleyways between warehouses and similar structures, andconsequently in many instances such warehouses are deprived entirely ofrailway facilities, and their occupants are obliged to endure the delaysand expense of teaming in order to load their goods upon and unload themfrom railway-cars. As will be seen from the ensuing description, I havedevised means whereby one or more cars can be readily detached from atrain in a narrow alley-way and side-tracked in such a manner that theshunted car shall in no way obstruct either the main line or thealley-way, and so, also, that the cars shall occupy the mostadvantageous position for discharging and receiving their loads. I

Referringnow to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates the Walls of twowarehouses, factories, or other similar buildings, the space 2 betweensaid walls being a narrow alley or driveway, such as is frequently foundin manufacturing or commercial districts. 3 designates the permanent ormain-line rails of a railway laid through said alley or driveway 2, andthe proportions illustrated are those which generally exist between arailway of the usual standard gage and an ordinary alley or driveway ofthe kind described. From an inspection of the drawings it will be seenthat it would be imposssible to lay an ordinary spur of siding in thespace intervening between the adjacent walls 1 of the oppositebuildings, and that none of the other various resources of railwayengineering would avail to enable cars to be shunted off of the maintrack and not obstruct the alley or driveway 2. In order to accomplishthis result, I provide the alley or driveway 2 with one or any number ofsuitable pits 3, (see Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7,) each of which is ofsuitable depth and which extends transversely of the alley or drivewayfrom near the outer line of the wall 1 of one building beyond theadjacent wall of the opposite building and into the a latter a distancesomewhat greater than the width of a car. This pit may be of a widthsomewhat greater than the length of a single car or somewhat greaterthan the length of several cars, as preferred, and in the bottom of thispit are laida number of ties or sleepers 4:, of any suitable 0rpreferred kind, said ties or sleepers extending, preferably,transversely of the pit and being laid from one end of said pit to theother. Upon the ties 4 in that end of the pit which terminates outsideof the wall 1 of one building are laid a number of fixed IOO . which thechains 19 are secured.

or stationary stringers 5, which extend parat lel with each other andlongitudinally of the pit, and upon these stringers are laid two movablerails 6 and 7, which extend transversely of the pit and which are movedinto and out ofalignment with the main-line rails 3, as hereinafterfully described. These two rails 6 and 7 are immediately supported bytwo or more movable tie-bars 8, (see, also, Fig. 8,) the base of therail 7 being embraced by a chair 9 at the outer end of each tie-bar 8,and the outer side of the base of the rail 7 being en gaged at times bya projection or half-chair 10 upon the corresponding end of each of saidties, or, in other words, upon the opposite end from that which carriesthe chair 9. These two or more tie-bars 8 each move upon one of thestringers 5 just described.

Upon the ties 4, which are not covered by the stringers 5, are laid twoor more rails 11, which extend parallel with each other andlongitudinally of the pit, and upon these rails run four or moretruck-wheels 12, which support a movable platform 13, said platformcorresponding in length with the width of the pitand of a width somewhatgreaterthan the space between the two main-line rails 3. Upon thisplatform 13 are placed and immovably secured two rails 14, which extendparallel with each other longitudinally of said platform, and the spacebetween which corresponds exactly with the space between the main-linerails 3; or, in other words, the gage of the rails 14 upon the platform13 is the same as the gage of the mainline rails 3. Within the pit atpoints between the main-line tracks 3 are located four pulley-wheels 15,which are disposed in two pairs, each of said pairs of pulleys being solocated as to be at one end of the platform 13 when it is in theposition shown in Figs. 1, 2,

5, and 7. In each of the corners of that end of the pit which enters oneof the buildings is placed a pulley-wheel 16, preferably journaled inaguard-frame 17, and midway of each end of the pit are placed twopulley-wheels 18. Two chains 19 are connected, each at one end to oneside of the platform 13 midway of its length, and said chains extendthence oppositely over the two middle pulleys 18, also over the twocornerpulleys 16, and also around the two corresponding pulleys 15, theends of these chains extending upward to the surface of the alley ordriveway, as shown. A pair of chains 20 extend over two opposite pulleys15 from those engaged by the chains 19 and thence around two corner andmiddle pulleys, (not shown,) but corresponding with the pulleys 16 and18, just described, and the opposite ends of these chains 20 are securedto the opposite side of the platform 13 from that to The outer ends ofthese chains 20 extend upward to the surface of the alley or drivewaysimilarly as do the chains 19, before described. The rails 14. of theplatform 13 rest upon ties 21,which are so arranged as to alternate withthe stringers 5, before described, and the operation of the mechanismthus far described is as follows: When a car is to be side-tracked, thetrain is pushed or pulled by the engine and brought to a standstill withthe car to be sidetracked standing upon the rails 14, said rails being,of course, in the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, or, in otherwords, in alignment with the rails 3 of the main line. The car is nowuncoupled from the train, at one end only if at one end of the train andat both ends if in the body portion of the train, and that portion ofthe train to which the engine is coupled is drawn away. Before thisportion of the train is moved away the free end of one of the chains 19is connected to the coupling of the end car of the train, and as saidcar moves it draws the platform 13 to that end of the pit which entersthe building, and thus carries the car sidewise into said building. Asthe rails 11 are thus moved away from the main-line rails 3 the outerrail 1 1, acting through a chain 21 or other flexible connection, drawsthe adjacent rail 7 with it until said rail7comes into alignment withthe main-line rails 3, which are next to the building into which the caris being carried. This movement of the rail 7, acting upon the tiebars8, causes the half-chairs 10 of said ties to engage the base of thecompanion rail 7 and draws said companion rail. into alignment with themain-line rails which are farthest from the building into which thecarhas been carried. Thus it will be seen that when the car has enteredthe building the main line is unbroken. The chain 19 can now beuncoupled from the car or engine and the latter backed down and coupledto the rest of the train if the shunted car or cars were from the bodyof the train, and the train can proceed on its way. When it is desiredto replace the car which has been side-tracked upon the main line, oneend of one of the chains 20 is coupled to the engine or to one of thecars of the train and the engine or car is moved upon the main line.This movement draws the rails 14 toward the main line, moving the ties21 between the stringers 5 and first causing the advancing rail 1 1 tostrike the rail 7, next to the building out of which the car is beingdrawn. This railthen strikes the companion rail 6, and both are movedout of line with the main-line rails 3, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5, and7, and the main line is closed by the rails 14, so that as soon as thecar is coupled to the train it can be drawn away.

In order to close the pit when the movable rails let are in line withthe main-line rails 3, a removable platform 22 may be placed upon thatpart of the pit which is in the building into which the movable railsare drawn at times, as above described, and in order to cover thedriveway or alley when the car is side-tracked a platform 24 is hingedadjacent to the wall of the building opposite from that into which theside-tracked car runs. This platformis let down and covers the space between the rails 7. The two lower bars 25 of this platform 24 are pivotedat their ends into the two side pieces 26 of said platform and at theircorresponding ends each of these bars carries a gear-wheel 26, the teethof said gearwheels intermeshing. A lever 27 is pivoted,

upon this end of the, upper bar and carries a pawl 28, which meshes withthe teeth of the corresponding gear-wheel. Thus before the platform islowered the bars are turned a quarter of a revolution, so as to fitclosely between the rails 7, as shown in Fig. 7. At the completion ofthe shunting movement of the movable side-track rails 14 the movement ofthe movable rail 7 of the main line is arrested by a short chain orsimilar flexible connection 30, one end of which is secured to the outerside of the rail 7, while its opposite end is secured stationarily tothe ground, and the length of said chain being such as to arrest themovement of the rail 7 when it is in alignment with the correspondingmainline rails 3.

From the above description it will be seen that I have provided meanswhereby a car can be side-tracked in a confined space-such as analley-without obstructing an alley-way or the main line, and also themechanism employed can be readily and easily operated and is simple andinexpensive in construction, and it will also be seen that theseside-tracking and other described operations can be performed within thelength of a single car, or of two or more cars, as the case may be.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An improved railway-siding comprising a main line having a movablerail-section, a pair of movable side-track rails, and a pair of chainsconnected to said movable rails and serving to effect the requiredmovements of the same, substantially as set forth.

2. An improved railway-siding comprising a main line, apair of movableside-track rails, a number of movable tie-bars, each permanentlyconnected to one of said rails and having a projection to engage theopposite movable rail, a pair of movable main-line rails connected withone of the movable side-track rails, and a pair of chains connected eachs de of the movable main-line-railsupporting frame, substantially as setforth.

3. An improved railway-siding comprising a main line having a movabletrack-section, a movable side track, and a hinged platform having a pairof rotating bars and a ratchetgearing for operating said bars,substantial] y as set forth.

4:. An improved railway-siding comprising a main line having a movablerail-section, movable ties supporting said movable railsection, apair ofmovableside-track rails, and stationary stringers 5, supporting saidsidetrack rails and alternating with said movable ties, substantially asset forth.

5. An improved railway-siding comprising a pair of laterally-movableside-track rails, a pair of movable main-line rails connectedby slidingties, a flexible connection connecting the adjacent main-line rail andinner sidetrack rail, and a flexible connection connected to the outermovable side-track rail and to the ground, substantially as set forth. I

6. An improved railway-siding comprising a laterally-movablerail-section, a pair of movable side-track rails, and apair of chainsconnected to the said movable rails and serving to effect the requiredlateral movements of the same, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. WALLACE R. KIRK.

Witnesses:

J NO. L. CONDRON,

H. E. PRICE.

